Grumble
Bookworm on Aug 08 2008 at 6:44 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
I live in Southern Marin. My daughter spent this week in a camp in Northern Marin. As I have the past few days, I spent three hours today driving her to camp and picking her up from camp (a large part of which time was just spent sitting in traffic). That didn’t even include the 45 minutes I spent these same days driving my son to camp and picking him up from camp. Today, though, I got a new wrinkle on this endless journey up and down Highway 101.
My husband is out of town on business. He was going to leave his car out of town, since he has to be back there Monday, and make a round-trip train ride home for the weekend. I agreed to pick him up at the train station, which is about a 30 minute drive from here.
At the last moment, my husband called to tell me that a colleague who was also heading back here had kindly agreed to drive him. The plan was for her to drop him at a ferry plaza near my house. That’s good, I thought.
About 20 minutes later my husband called me again. He had suddenly figured out that, since his colleague lives in North Marin, dropping him at the ferry plaza would take her 45 minutes out of her way. So, now I’m driving back up to North Marin for the 3rd time today.
I don’t know why this irritates me so much. I didn’t have a problem with making a 30 minute drive to the East Bay, but I’m royally tweaked at making a 30 minute drive to the North Bay. I guess that it’s because I’ve had a hell of a time getting anything done this week, since I’ve been spending four hours a day in the car. If I were a trucker or bus driver getting paid for that time — if that time was my work time — it would be different. This however, has been time sucked away from everything else I do, and to make the same trek again, not even a different trek, but that same trek, just irks me.
Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble.
Okay, I feel better now. Thank you for listening.
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7 Responses to “Grumble”
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Hi BW,
Jo and I sympathize. Our daughter has a job training horses at a farm 45 min. from here. And she does not drive yet. Yes, the start of school will really help the gas bill.
Al
Heh. My Dad used to answer the phone (at certain times) as “Mom’s Taxi Service”….
My son is going through the same thing at the moment. They’d probably save as much on gas as their daughter is earning in her first job, (McD’s – she now knows _one_ thing she doesn’t want to do the rest of her life!) but like your daughter, there’s more than one lesson in a capitalism exercise.
I always tried to look on it as “quality time” spent with each kid – when they couldn’t get away!
Bookworm,
Try listening to lectures from the teaching company (www dot teach12 dot com)or audio books. They kept me sane a few years ago while spending 3-4 hours per day ferrying kids back and forth. I loved them! (can’t say that my kids enjoyed it though).
There’s nothing worse for me than getting stuck in stop-and-go traffic. On a thoroughfare, on a short highway trip, on a long highway trip… it doesn’t matter. I can’t stand it. Dallas snarls may not be as bad as San Francisco’s, but it still gets to me.
Is there even a solution? I believe California has a massive web of concrete ribbons four lanes wide each way, and still, the traffic is at a standstill everywhere near major population centers. (Some will argue for mass transit, but in its current incarnation it can only sometimes get you where you want to go.)
>>California has a massive web of concrete ribbons four lanes wide each way, and still, the traffic is at a standstill everywhere near major population centers.>>
Ain’t it grand?? We’re lucky to have so much wealth in this country. One of the interviews during the Olympics was with someone who had last seen the country in the 70s, when the primary mode of transportation was by bicycle. Now they have traffic jams too, and the report said that they added 1000 cars every day. It’s certainly inconvenient, but it _is_ a symptom of wealth. We don’t usually think of a car as “wealth” but if you don’t have one….!!!!
Good point, suek! I’m sure all these people aren’t driving to the unemployment office nor to the next protest meeting.
As for me, it is just so very very irritating, all these traffic nightmares. Why, I got stuck for thirty minutes on my way back from The Whole Foods, and my arugula was completely wilted by the time I got it home. If only I’d taken the Metro!
I worked in a small community about 45 miles from home which was also a 45 minute commute.
The town got it’s first stop light, and how everything changed. Directions were now given in relation to that light– “go to the stop light and turn left”. That was 20 years ago. They now have three lights. Can’t stop the march of progress.
Not bragging mind you. I really do feel your pain.